Muslim law is a religious law, and it applies to a person, who is Muslim either by

birth or by proselytization. However, Islamic law is based on a man’s duties or

obligations rather than his rights. The word Islam means ‘total surrender of
oneself to God’ and its follower i.e. Muslim means, ‘who submitted himself to
God.’

The personal law of Muslims is based on Islam. Islam had its origin in Arabia
and from whence it was transplanted into India. In Arabia, Prophet Hazrat
Mohammed, himself an Arab, promulgated Islam and laid down the foundation
of Islamic law. The main groundwork of Islamic Legal System was nourished
and developed by Arab-jurists, and the real fountainhead of Islamic
Jurisprudence is to be found in the pre-Islamic Arabian customs and usages of
the 7th century of the Christian era.

Islamic law is a branch of Muslim theology, giving practical expression to the

faith, which lays down how a Muslim should conduct himself through his
religion, both towards God and towards other men. According to Prophet,
Muslim law is a commandment of God and the sovereigns in the Muslim States,
and it is his (Muslim’s) duty to follow it. Islam means peace by submission and
obedience to the will and commandments of God and those who have accepted
the message of peace by submission to God.
The Muslim law has been derived from various primary as well as secondary
sources. These are classified as:

A. Primary sources

1. Sunna or Ahadis
2. Quran
3. Ijma
4. Qiyas

B. Secondary Sources

1. Judicial Decision
2. Custom
3. Legislation
4. Equity, Just & Good Conscience (Istihsn, Itislah & Istidal)

Quran
It is the original or primary source of Muslim Law. It is the name of the holy
book of the Muslims containing the direct revelations from God through Prophet.
The direct express or manifest revelations consist of the communications which
were made by the angel, Gabriel, under directions from God, to Mohammed,
either in the very words of God or by hints and of such knowledge which the
Prophet has acquired through the inspiration (Ilham) of God. All the principles,
ordinances, teachings and the practices of Islam are drawn from Quran. The
contents of Quran were not written during the lifetime of the Prophet, but these
were presented during the lifetime of Prophet, in the memories of the
companions.

There is no systematic arrangement of the verses in the Quran but they are
scattered throughout the text. It contains the fundamental principles which
regulate the human life. The major portion of the Quran deals with theological
and moral reflections. The Quran consists of communications of God; it is
believed to be of divine origin having no earthly source. It is the first and the
original legislative code of Islam. It is the final and supreme authority.

Sunna (Traditions or Ahadis)

The literal meaning of the term ‘Sunna’ is ‘the trodden path.’ It denotes some
practice and precedents of the Prophet, whatever the Prophet said or did
without reference to God, and is treated as his traditions. It is the second
source of Muslim law. Traditions are injunctions of Allah in the words of the
prophet. Where the words of Allah could not supply an authority for a given rule
of law, Prophet’s words were treated as an authority because it is believed that
even his sayings derived inspiration from Allah.

According to Muslim law, there are two types of revelations i.e. manifest (Zahir)
and internal (Batin). Manifest or express revelations were the very words of
Allah and came to the Prophet through the angel Gabriel. Such revelations
became part of the Quran. On the other hand, the internal revelations were
those which were the ‘Prophet’s words’ & did not come through Gabriel, but
Allah inspired the ideas in his sayings. Such internal revelations formed part of
Sunna. Traditions, therefore, differ from Quran in the sense that Quran consists
of the very words of God whereas a Sunna is in the language of Prophet.

Sunna or traditions consists of:

  Sunnat-ul-Qual (word spoken)
 Sunnat-ul-Fail (conduct)
 Sunnat-ul-Tahrir (silence)

Ijma (Consensus)

With the death of the prophet, the original law-making process ended, so the
questions, which could not be solved either by the principles of the Quran or the
Sunna, were decided by the Jurists with the introduction of the institution of
Ijma. Ijma means agreement of the Muslim Jurists of a particular age on a
particular question of law, in other words, it is the consensus of Jurist’s opinion.

Those persons who had knowledge of law were called Mujtahids (Jurists). When
Quran and traditions could not supply any rule of law for a fresh problem, the
jurists unanimously gave their common opinion or a unanimous decision and it
was termed as Ijma. Not each and every Muslim was competent to participate
in the formation of Ijma, but only Mujtahids could take part in it.

There are three kinds of Ijma:

 Ijma of Companions: The concurrent opinion of the companions of Prophet was

considered most authoritative and could not be overruled or modified.
 Ijma of the Jurists: This was the unanimous decision of the jurists (other than
companion).
 Ijma of the people or masses: It is the opinion of the majority of the Muslims which
was accepted as law. But this kind of Ijma has little value.

Once a valid Ijma is constituted, it is regarded equal to Quranic verse i.e. it is

equally binding on people. Without Ijma, these rules of Islamic law would have
been diffused and incomplete. Its principles cover the vast subject. Ijma
authenticated the right interpretation of the Quran and the Sunna.
Qiyas (Analogical deductions)

The word Qiyas was derived from term ‘Hiaqish’ which means ‘beat together.’ In
Arabic Qiyas means ‘measurement, accord, and equality.’ In other words, it
means measuring or comparing a thing to a certain standard, or to ‘establish an
analogy.’ If the matters which have not been covered by Quran, Sunna or Ijma,
the law may be deducted from what has been already laid down by these three
authorities by the process of analogy (Qiyas).

The Qiyas is a process of deduction, which helps in discovering law and not to
establish a new law. Its main function is to extend the law of the text, to cases
which do not fall within the purview of the text. For valid Qiyas, the following
conditions must be fulfilled:

 The process of the Qiyas can be applied only to those texts which are capable of
being extended. The texts should not be confined to a particular state of facts or rules
having a specific reference.
 The analogy deduced should not be inconsistent with the dictates of the Quran and
authority of Sunna.
 The Qiyas should be applied to discover a point of law and not to determine the
meanings of the words used in the text.
 It must not bring a change in the law embodied.

If there is a conflict between two deductions, a jurist is free to accept any one
of the deductions from a text. Hence one analogy cannot abrogate the other.

Compared with other sources, Qiyas is of much lesser significance. The reason
is that on the analogical deductions, resting as they do, upon the application of
human reasons, which is always liable to error.
 It may be concluded that the superstructure of Islamic Jurisprudence is founded
on Quranic verses and traditional utterance of Prophet, yet other sources have
also helped a lot in developing the sacred law in its present form. It is due to
the contribution of all the sources of Islamic law that an orderly and systematic
theory of the personal laws of Islam came into existence, which governs the
Muslim community.

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